


Changing Currents

by PrincessAmonRae



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: AU of episode 3X03, Angst with a Happy Ending, First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, Light Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-04
Updated: 2021-02-04
Packaged: 2021-03-15 11:42:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29188743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrincessAmonRae/pseuds/PrincessAmonRae
Summary: “Eddie.” It’s Maddie’s voice, shaky and wet. “Have you heard from Buck?”“Not since I dropped Chris off this morning. They went to the movies,” he says and frowns as Maddie shudders through an inhale. “Maddie what’s the matter?”“I checked Instagram on my break to try and decompress a little.” His phone vibrates like he got a text message so he pulls it away from his ear and puts Maddie on speaker phone. “They didn’t go to the movies.”Eddie opens the text and his heart drops.It’s a screen shot of Instagram, a picture of Buck and Christopher very clearly on the pier as evidenced by the Ferris Wheel directly behind them. The time stamp on the picture is less than a half hour before the tsunami hit.“No,” Eddie says and doesn’t realize he says it out loud until Maddie sobs again.“I tried calling him, but I didn’t get an answer.”“No no no no,” Eddie says and he’s shaking his head this time because he can’t. He can’t lose Chris, he can’t lose Buck and he cannot survive losing them both.
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV)
Comments: 20
Kudos: 655
Collections: 9-1-1 Tales





	Changing Currents

**Author's Note:**

> Everyone really expected me to believe that Buck wouldn't have made a makeshift seat belt for Chris when they were on that ladder truck?  
> I disagree.

Buck practically throws Chris up on the ladder truck, and mentally apologies for all the bruises the poor kid must have, before pulling himself up after him. He settles Chris down and then scrambles about looking for some kind of rope that is above water and will tie easily. 

“What are you doing Buck?” Chris asks after he sacrifices a hose to the job and sets about creating a makeshift harness for Chris. 

“Well, you know how sometimes your Dad has to climb buildings.” He pauses and waits for Chris’ nod. “Yeah, when he does it he has to wear a harness so that he doesn’t fall, so I’m making you a harness so that you can’t fall.” 

He cannot fucking lose this child. He will not fucking lose this child. One too long period of thinking that he’d lost Chris had been enough. He is getting Chris back home to his dad. 

“What about you Buck?” Chris asks in confused worry once Buck finishes the harness and has firmly attached it to the truck. Buck smiles at him. 

“I gotta stay loose in case someone else needs rescuing,” he says which is the exact point he hears shouting and Chris points over his shoulder at the person struggling to stay above water. “See?” 

Buck rescues people, and plays I Spy with Christopher so that he doesn’t have to see the bodies that float past them, which by the way everyone else on the truck smiles at them, boosts everyone’s spirits by a whole lot. 

Then the water recedes, and the truck is jostled so badly by it that Chris nearly tips off which makes him doubly glad that he had the harness on the kid because one of the women had saved him from that by grabbing the harness. 

“What are we gonna do now Buck?” Chris asks once they have their feet on the ground again, and tugs on his harness pointedly, but Buck wildly thinks _‘Just this one time Fuck his independence’_ as he ties the other end of the hose around himself. 

“Well, what would Dory do if she weren’t a fish?” He asks as they start walking further inland. 

“But she is a fish,” Chris protests with a laugh. 

“Yeah but what if she weren’t a fish?” Buck repeats with a smile and the best laugh he can manage. 

“Just keep walking!” Chris chirps brightly and Buck tousles his hair. 

“Exactly buddy. Just keep walking.” 

Admittedly, Chris doesn’t walk as much as Buck does, due to the fact that he’s a child and his crutches are long gone, but Chris humming their new mantra under his breath while Buck is carrying him is a huge help. 

* * *

_  
_

It has been a long exhausting day, paralleled only by the earthquake that Eddie had experienced in his first week at the 118. It’s the reason why he jumps so high when his phone rings. 

“Hello,” he answers without looking at the caller ID as he jogs outside of the hospital to get away from the noise. 

“Eddie.” It’s Maddie’s voice, shaky and wet. “Have you heard from Buck?” 

“Not since I dropped Chris off this morning. They went to the movies,” he says and frowns as Maddie shudders through an inhale. “Maddie what’s the matter?” 

“I checked Instagram on my break to try and decompress a little.” His phone vibrates like he got a text message so he pulls it away from his ear and puts Maddie on speaker phone. “They didn’t go to the movies.” 

Eddie opens the text and his heart drops. 

It’s a screen shot of Instagram, a picture of Buck and Christopher very clearly on the pier as evidenced by the Ferris Wheel directly behind them. The time stamp on the picture is less than a half hour before the tsunami hit. 

“No,” Eddie says and doesn’t realize he says it out loud until Maddie sobs again. 

“I tried calling him, but I didn’t get an answer.” 

“No no no no,” Eddie says and he’s shaking his head this time because he can’t. He can’t lose Chris, he can’t lose Buck and he _cannot survive losing them both_. 

“Eddie?” That’s Bobby and Eddie jerks his head up. He doesn’t know what his expression is, but it must be concerning because Bobby’s face goes white. 

“Bobby? Bobby have you heard from Buck?” Maddie asks and Bobby frowns. 

“No I haven’t. Wasn’t he at the movies?” Eddie holds out the phone so that Bobby can see the picture and watches as pain etches itself across Bobby’s face. 

“I’m going back out there,” Eddie says, hangs up on Maddie and starts moving forward and Bobby catches him by the shoulders. 

“Eddie you can’t.” 

“I have to find them!” 

“Eddie we were there! We were there hours ago!” Eddie is struggling against Bobby with all his strength but can’t manage to shake his hands. 

“I can’t live without them!” Eddie shouts and Bobby looks at him with aching sympathy. 

“I know Eddie. I know.” The words are enough to shock Eddie to a stop because for the first time he gets it. He gets why Bobby kept his family a secret because if Eddie has lost his family, he may not ever have the strength to breathe their names again. 

And then he hears it. 

“Dad!” It’s Chris’s voice and Eddie wheels upright and scans the area desperately. 

And then he sees them. Buck carrying Christopher, both of them beautifully, wonderfully alive. 

He takes off at a run as Buck blinks blearily and follows Chris’s pointed finger to turn towards him. The start of a smile quirks at the edge of Buck’s lips as he kneels down slowly. 

Eddie skids to a stop on his knees and drags Chris against him. 

“Thank God. Oh, Thank God.” He presses dozens of kisses onto whatever bits of Chris he can reach. He reels back slightly to hook a hand to the back of Buck’s neck and drags him into his arms as well. “Thank God.” 

“Eddie I am so sorry,” Buck whispers and Eddie shakes his head as grateful tears start spilling out of his eyes. 

“No no you have nothing to be sorry for because you are alive.” He gasps and hugs both of the boys he loves tightly again in his arms. “You are both alive.” 

“Of course, we are Dad. Buck kept us safe,” Chris says simply, and Eddie realises that he has a fire hose wrapped around him like a harness. 

“Is that what this is for?” He teases through his tears as he tugs on the one by his shoulder and Chris nods. 

“To keep me from getting separated from Buck.” Eddies sobs out a laugh and squeezes Chris’s shoulder as he looks at Buck. 

“Buck’s very smart.” 

“Eddie – I –” Buck is going for another apology, and Eddie can’t stand the idea, so he swoops in and kisses him. 

“Evan Buckley, I thought you were dead. I thought you were dead for the longest minute of my life and I don’t care how much guilt you think you should feel because I am too busy caring about the fact that you are alive.” Buck stares at him for a while as Eddie starts unwinding the harness from Chris. “Now we need to get you both checked out.” 

Eddie manages, somehow, to release Buck into the capable hands of Hen and Chim as he stands up with Chris wrapped in his arms and carries him inside. 

They both get off so luckily, Chris is only exhausted and dehydrated, Buck the same but with an extra cut on his arm that he had stared at in confusion when the doctor pointed it out. It’s a good thing Eddie’s there because he can remember to tell the doctor that Buck is on blood thinners, and which ones specifically. 

When they’re both cleared Eddie looks at Bobby who smiles at him and claps him on the shoulder. 

“Take them home,” he advises and gives him a smile. “I’m glad you got lucky.” 

Chris passes out almost the instant he’s buckled into a car, but Buck is still blinking at Eddie in confusion. 

“You kissed me.” 

“Yeah, I did,” Eddie says and leans across the car to wrap his hand around the back of Buck’s neck again and pull him forward so that he can rest his forehead on Buck’s. “And I did it because I love you.” 

“You do?” Buck says. 

“Yeah, I do.” Eddie kisses him again. “I love you.” 

“I love you too.” Eddie’s hand tightens slightly. 

“Don’t ever do that to me again.” 

“Only if you find me a bed in the next hour because I am so tired Eddie.” 

“I can do that Buck.”


End file.
